Campus is a pretty interesting place to be, not until one runs broke.  When poverty strikes, you have no plan for lunch nor supper and survival is only at the mercy of extra porridge nights.

Porridge nights are not only interesting but also hunger-saving. During the nights, porridge is cooked at a given hall - depending on who the organizers are. There is usually music for people to dance to but what usually gets some out of bed, especially on those pocket-empty nights, is the hunger that sends them porridge-hunting.

Students residing in Mary Stuart Hall have raised concerns about what they call the deteriorating sanitary conditions in the residence.

The students have complained about the bathrooms, toilets and drainage system at the oldest girls’ hall of residence at Makerere.  

Catherine Nasonko, who has lived in Mary Stuart for two years, says the bathrooms are cleaned only once a day, “but since we are so many it is not long before they get dirty and I mean really dirty.”

Makerere University is seeking service providers to run two canteens at Mary Stuart Hall.

The canteens at the biggest female hall of residence have been closed since May, when a fire outbreak destroyed property including the canteens on the first floor of the building. Since then the building has been undergoing renovations.

The university administration has come up with a new bidding requirement for possible service providers which requires that a staff member owns the canteen and thus rendering the previous service providers ineligible.

Although the National Environmental Management Authority(NEMA)  and Vivo Energy Uganda have launched a campaign aimed at sensitizing Ugandans about the dangers of using polythene bags dubbed,  “Tuve ku kaveera” (let’s stop using polythene bags), usage of polythene bags around Makerere University is still a rampant practice. This is clearly seen by many polythene bags used on a daily basis by a kiosk at Mary Stuart hall.